Wentang

Chapter 644 Rebellion and Immigration

Some people in Huazhou gathered a crowd to rebel.

Yue Shan couldn't believe his ears when he heard the news.

It's not that he didn't expect people to rebel, on the contrary, when the population is checked and the land is cleared, there will definitely be crowds of people to fight against it. He just didn't expect this kind of thing to happen in Huazhou.

Just look at its geographical location.

Based on Huashan in the front, Jingwei in the back, Tongguan in the left, and Lantian Pass in the past, it has been an important military area in Guanzhong.

Datang usually garrisons more than [-] people from Zhechong Mansion here, and this time they deployed another Zhechong Mansion to garrison in order to prevent people from making trouble.

There are more than 1 elite government soldiers stationed in a fart place. Rebelling here is like lighting a lantern in the toilet to seek death.

If you want to rebel, change to another place. If you choose this place, I really don’t know what those people think.

"The powerful Zheng family in Zheng County, Huazhou, has been passed down for six generations, and [-]% of the land in a county falls into his hands. Every blade of grass and a drop of water in a radius of tens of miles is his property, and the common people have to pay money if they want to use it. There are more than [-] tenant households and thousands of servants." Zhang Hong held a document and read:
"Seven days ago, the Household Department's inventory team arrived in Zheng County... Zheng Conglin, the head of the Zheng family, obstructed the investigation work by various means... My working group applied for a team of soldiers from the Huazhou Governor's Mansion to assist..."

"Under the government soldiers forcibly clearing the way, more than [-] hidden households were cleared out in three days, and more than [-] people were trafficked...and the people sued Yongyetian for the Zheng family's occupation, totaling more than [-] mu... "

"Zheng's situation was not good, so he gathered more than 27 servants and tenants yesterday to attack our staff, resulting in the deaths of 21 household officials, [-] six-door arresters and [-] government soldiers. The rest were under the protection of the government soldiers. Descend into the Governor's Mansion."

"Now the Zheng family has tens of thousands of people besieging the county town and surrounding the governor's mansion..."

After reading, Zhang Hong bowed and put the memorial on Li Shimin's desk, then retreated to his seat and sat down quietly.

The ministers and ministers all looked stern, and Li Shimin's face was as cold as ice.

This matter is really too bad, the rebellion of the crowd at the feet of the emperor will inevitably shake the world, and a bad one may cause more serious consequences.

Li Shimin was not only angry about these things, he didn't even know that such a giant was entrenched under his nose, this was the most dangerous thing.It also means that there are huge loopholes in his control of the world.

But after all, he is the emperor who is about to win the world. He has never seen such a big battle. He didn't lose his mind because of anger, but asked: "Where are the governor of Huazhou and the county magistrate of Zheng County?"

Zhang Hong replied: "I don't know, the governor of Huazhou is very powerful, and our working group never saw him. The magistrate of Zheng County appeared once, but since then he has been finding various excuses to avoid seeing him. "

"A bunch of moths, I can't wait to destroy the whole family." Li Shimin said angrily.

"Let Tongguan send troops to quickly wipe out the rebels and clean up the local government. I want everyone in the world to know what the end of the rebellion will be."

Wei Ting, the imperial historian, got up quickly and said: "Sage, the separation of military and government is the law of the country. If the military is allowed to investigate the corruption in Huazhou, it may cause the civil servants to retaliate. If the imperial court sends an imperial envoy to deal with this matter, it will also appease the government. refugee."

"The law should not be dismissed lightly, please think twice." Changsun Wuji also stood up and supported.

"Please think twice, sage." Other civil servants also expressed their opinions.

The military did not say a word.

Li Shimin also knew that he had made a mistake out of anger, so he immediately borrowed the donkey from the slope and said, "Okay, who do you think will be the imperial envoy?"

"Cen Wenben, the servant of Zhongshu, can take on this important task." Fang Xuanling recommended.

"I also think Cen Shilang is suitable." Changsun Wuji also said.

Although some people proposed other candidates, the two prime ministers jointly recommended, and Cen Wenwen still got this opportunity.In other words, he is also the best candidate in Li Shimin's mind.

You must know that he is a very high-ranking talent in Li Shimin's pocket, and he was trained as a prime minister.

Yue Shan didn't say a word. When he knew that the place where the rebellion was in Huazhou, he knew that there would be no trouble. The most incompetent emperor could easily deal with it, not to mention that all the people present were top or second big bosses.

But the more you listen to him, the more you feel something is wrong. You guys figured out how to deal with it so quickly?Don't you think that there are ignorant people who are coerced among the rebels?

Kill them all together?Or exile?But either way it's too bad.

So he immediately stood up and said, "Everyone, I have a little question."

Only then did Li Shimin remember that there was another person in the room, and said, "Oh, I haven't asked your opinion yet, tell me what you think."

Yue Shan said: "Is this how you define it as gathering a crowd to rebel?"

Everyone was taken aback, unable to understand what he meant.

Li Shimin asked rhetorically, "They all assembled a crowd to kill officers and soldiers and besiege the county town. Isn't that a rebellion?"

Yue Shan said: "There should be only a small number of rebels. I think most of the common people are coerced, so we can't generalize."

Li Shimin didn't answer his question, but looked at him as if he was retarded.

Yue Shan didn't know what he said was wrong, so he touched his head blankly.

It was Fang Xuanling who helped him out: "I think I understand Yue Hou's meaning. Are you worried that the imperial court will kill the innocent people who were coerced together?"

"Is not it?"

"Of course not, the imperial court will screen them one by one. The rebels will be dealt with according to the law, and the coerced people will be repatriated to the local government for supervision and education." Fang Xuanling explained.

"Uh..." Yue Shan was so embarrassing, he had never been so embarrassing since time travel.

"Haha... Yue Hou's benevolence is still very admirable." Fang Xuanling joked with a smile.

"Haha..." Everyone also laughed, even Li Shimin burst out laughing.

After laughing for a while, Zhang Hong said again: "However, the resettlement of these coerced people is indeed a big problem."

"There are too many hidden households in Zheng County. If all of them settle in the local area, I am afraid that Yongyetian will not be enough. After all, they have participated in rebellion, and gathering together is also a hidden danger. Why not take this opportunity to disperse them and resettle them."

Everyone nodded, this is indeed a good way.Everyone is worried about placing a group of people who have participated in the rebellion in Guanzhong. It is best to disperse and move out.

As the so-called homeland is hard to leave, it is extremely difficult to move these people away.But now that they participated in the rebellion, it would be good if the court didn't kill them, and no one dared to object to the migration.

Li Shimin nodded and said: "Zhang Shangshu is a mature and prudent statement, so where should these people be placed?"

Everyone started to discuss. Although everyone mentioned different places, there were generally two directions.

One is the northern frontier. The imperial court had just retaken a large area of ​​land from the Eastern Turks and needed to replenish the population.The second is Lingnan, where people from the Central Plains who migrated more could have a longer and more stable rule of the imperial court in the past.

The more these people discussed, the more they went beyond the outline, and soon they chatted from the rebels in Zheng County to the hidden households across the country.

There are more hidden households in the country, and the data given by the Ministry of Households is between 200 million and 300 million households.

This is not nonsense but has a basis. During the period of Emperor Sui Yang, there were 890 million registered households, more than 200 million people.By the time of Wude, there were only more than 1000 million households, and there were just over 500 million people, a decrease of almost [-] million people.

From the end of Sui Yang Emperor to Li Yuan's establishment of the Tang Dynasty and defeating the princes from all walks of life, there were only ten years in between.Thirty-five million people died in the past ten years. What kind of concept is this?
is it possible?

Where are those people?

Because of the war, he became a hermit.

Since the establishment of the Tang Dynasty, the population has not been checked. The household registration book is based on the number reported by the local yamen.

Datang distributed Yongye land to the registered people, and hermits were not entitled to enjoy it. They could only be tenants for other people's families.And the ones who use the most tenants are the aristocratic families, and it can be said that more than half of the hermits are in their hands.

This is also the reason why the imperial court transferred the frontier troops into the country in advance when conducting the census and clearing the land, fearing that the aristocratic families would rebel.

So now the question arises again, what to do with these hermits who have been cleared out.

In situ naturalization allotment of land?

Unrealistic, the Central Plains does not have so much land to divide, or the land in the hands of the imperial court is not enough.Unless all the powerful families are wiped out and their land is distributed to the people.

This is not realistic.

The common people will be unwilling to be naturalized but not give the land, because after naturalization, they have to pay taxes, and not giving Tian Guang to pay taxes is forcing them to rebel.

The best way is to relocate the hermits from densely populated areas to sparsely populated areas for naturalization.As for whether the people are willing...the imperial court has plenty of ways to get them to agree.

Soon, a meeting held to counter the rebellion turned into a population migration plan for the next five years.

Use the opportunity of this census to relocate the hermit households in the Central Plains, especially the densely populated areas of Shandong, Hebei, and Henan, to other places.

Firstly, to relieve the population pressure in these places; secondly, the immigrant places can also be developed; thirdly, the power of the aristocratic families in these three places is strong, and this opportunity is used to further weaken their strength.

There are two main areas of immigration, the north and south of the Five Ridges, and the order is from north to south.After all, Datang's economic center and strategic center of gravity are in the north at this time, and there is no strong enemy in the south to take it easy.

Just now, the ugly Yue Shan sat on the chair honestly and didn't speak, but Li Shimin didn't want to think about him just like that, jokingly said:
"Cuilan, what's your opinion? Come and tell me."

Yue Shan smiled awkwardly, and then said seriously: "I do have a small disagreement with you about the place of relocation."

Li Shimin was stunned for a moment, he didn't expect that he really had a different opinion, and said, "Where are the differences?"

Others put away their smiles and listened carefully.

All joking aside, they still take Yue Shan's opinion very seriously.

Yue Shan said: "I don't think there should be such a hurry to migrate people to Lingnan on a large scale."

As the initiator of Lingnan Development, but opposed to large-scale immigration here, everyone was very surprised.

Without waiting for others to ask questions, Yue Shan explained: "The climate and environment in the north and the south are very different. The climate in the north is dry, with a lot of dry land... After thousands of years of development, it is more suitable for human habitation. No matter where people are, they can live in the north. Adapted quickly."

"But the south is different, especially Lingnan, where rivers are densely covered, vegetation is rich, and the climate is hot and humid... Miasma, schistosomiasis, all kinds of poisonous insects and beasts are rampant..."

"Even the locals have to be careful in order to survive. If we rashly move the northerners there, I'm afraid it won't be long before ten of them will survive."

"It is also necessary to take into account the thoughts of the local slang people. They do not have enough trust in the imperial court. Migration of a large number of northerners used to make them mistakenly think that the imperial court is vying for their land and wealth."

"If there is a bit of friction between the two sides, and it is instigated by people with good intentions, the good situation created by the imperial court after several years of management may be lost. Therefore, I think that people must be cautious when migrating to Lingnan."

"We can first delineate some places that are far away from the slang people and are more suitable for living, and migrate a small amount to settle there, and then slowly spread around from this base."

"I thought that in a period of 20 years, we should gradually complete the population migration, the transformation of the slang and other plans, so as to truly turn Lingnan into a hinterland."

After listening, everyone stopped talking.

Don't they know the danger in Lingnan?No, it's too clear.You must know that when Yueshan proposed the Great Development of Lingnan a few years ago, many people were still standing aside and waiting to see the joke.

Since ancient times, Lingnan has always been regarded as a wild land, with miasma, poisonous insects and beasts, savage sluts, etc., less than one out of ten people who go there can come back alive.

Most people don't believe that such a place can be a granary.

But Yueshan's operation really slapped everyone in the face. Lingnan really became a granary. During the severe drought in Guanzhong, it almost fed millions of people in Guanzhong with the power of one place.

In the past few years, countless grains have been contributed to the imperial court every year. A quarter of the large granaries built by the imperial court in Luoyang and other places are filled with grains brought back from Lingnan.

Why does the military dare to transfer troops from all over the country to the northern grasslands for actual combat training?You must know that when the army moves, it is a bottomless pit of food consumption, and the food consumed every day is terrifying.

It is because of the continuous supply of food from Lingnan.

The princes in the court who had tasted the sweetness naturally wanted more, so they ignored the harsh environment in Lingnan and moved the people in the north there.

As for how many people died, it was not as important as food.Anyway, they are all hermits who never paid taxes for the imperial court, and died when they died.

But Li Shimin is different.

There are many evaluations about Li Shimin in the history books, and there are also many contradictory places.Some people say that he was born in a wealthy family, but he doesn't really sympathize with the common people. The so-called benevolent government is for the long-term stability of his own country.

However, in terms of lenient population policy, the first three emperors of the Tang Dynasty can all be ranked among the top ten in history.

why?
What was the bulk of the ancient court's income?Household tax and land tax, eighty to ninety percent of the imperial court's tax revenue comes from this.Therefore, all dynasties have attached great importance to population.

Take the Sui Dynasty as an example. Yang Jian and Yang Guang's father and son searched for hidden households on a large scale several times, and even forced the common people to separate their households in order to collect more household taxes.

In the early Tang Dynasty, the policies of "release water to raise fish" and "hide wealth to the people" were implemented. There was never a census, let alone force the people to separate their families.

Until the reign of Li Zhi, after decades of recuperation in the Tang Dynasty, there were less than 400 million registered households.At that time, the number of hidden households was about the same as the number of registered households.

Some people want to say that hermit households are not allowed to participate in the imperial examinations, cannot become an official, and are even restricted from doing business. The country does not divide Yongye land.
However, even if you are on the household registration book, can you become an official?Most people still have to plan their food in the soil.

Hermit households do not have to pay taxes, nor do they have to perform hard labor. Only these two items can save a lot of money and food.

This is also the reason why many people still choose to be hidden households knowing that they can share Yongye Tian as long as they take the initiative to register for household registration.

The three emperors of the early Tang Dynasty allowed the people to become hermits, which was a kind of benevolent government at that time, and it was a rare benevolent government in history.

Closer to home.

It can be seen from this that Li Shimin attaches great importance to the people.

When everyone was discussing the population migration plan just now, he was influenced by several prime ministers and ignored the harsh climate in south of the Five Ridges, planning to emigrate there on a large scale.

At this time, after being reminded by Yue Shan, he suddenly realized that this is letting the people die.

After understanding this, he glanced around gloomyly, but all he saw were the calm expressions of Fang Xuanling and others.

He couldn't help sighing, Fang Xuanling and the others did not do this for personal gain, but to increase the court's income, which made him even more helpless.

This is the conceptual difference, and there is no way to eliminate it.

On the contrary, Yue Shan's idea was more in line with his point of view, so he simply ignored the others and asked, "What else do you think, let's talk about it together."

Yue Shan also knew that his words probably offended the people around him, but he didn't regret doing so.Countless human lives are at stake and must be fought for.

Besides, it is very normal for the court to have different political opinions. If the other party is regarded as an enemy because of differences of opinion, the court will be messed up long ago.

As long as the fundamental interests of one's own camp are not touched, no one will easily form an enemy.

The issue of migrating people to Lingnan does not involve anyone's interests, because Lingnan is a blank area for all forces.

To be honest, Yueshan has a relatively strong influence over there. After all, Ning Chun, the governor of Lingnan, is a general of the Yue family, and everyone knows this.

So Yue Shan refuted their face in public, even if they were unhappy in their hearts, they would not have other ideas.

Hearing Li Shimin asking for his opinion, Yue Shan didn't hide anything, and said all his thoughts.

"As my colleagues said just now, I agree with the plan of population migration from the north to the south. The north is more important to us. Only by completing the rule and development of the newly occupied area at the fastest speed can we continue to expand outward. .”

"Our differences lie in the south. I also think that people should migrate to the south. But it should not be in the south of Lingnan, but along the Yangtze River, and more specifically between Ezhou and Tanzhou."

Ezhou to Tanzhou?
Everyone let go of their unhappiness and began to think about the feasibility of Yue Shan's suggestion. The more they thought about it, the more they felt that it was a stroke of genius.

They are not stupid, but they were attracted by the food in Lingnan before, so that they ignored this place.

In fact, they are not to blame. The Yangtze River and the Yellow River are the two largest rivers in China, but in terms of human status, the Yellow River far surpasses the Yangtze River.

The Yellow River is the mother river, the birthplace of Chinese civilization, and the center of Chinese civilization has always been here for thousands of years.

The Yangtze River is just a big river. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, it was still regarded as a barren land. Chu State was the first to develop here.During the Qin and Han Dynasties, some were developed one after another, but they were not taken seriously.

It was not until the establishment of the Sun Wu regime at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty that there was a second opportunity for major development here.However, with the demise of the Sun Wu regime, it became tasteless again.

Until the establishment of the Tang Dynasty, this place was always a place where uncles and grandmas did not love.Because of Yueshan's large-scale development of Lingnan, the status of this place in the eyes of the imperial court is not even as good as that of the more remote Lingnan.

This is the reason why Fang Xuanling and others did not consider this place when they moved the population, because they had no sense of existence.

But as soon as Yueshan reminded them, when they recalled the climate and environment of this area, they immediately understood that the area from Ezhou to Tanzhou has more development value than Lingnan in terms of economic value and strategic value.

Fang Xuanling couldn't help clapping his hands and praised: "Wonderful, Ezhou to Tanzhou is along the Yangtze River, with the convenience of water transportation and fertile land for farming. It is not inferior to the granary in Lingnan when it is developed."

"And this place happens to be between the north and the south, and it is the link between the north and the south. If this place is developed, it will be able to communicate with the whole south smoothly, and many problems in the Lingnan area will be solved."

Yang Shidao also said: "Sun Wu developed this place back then. Although it was abandoned later, the foundation is still there. It is much less difficult to develop again."

Wei Zheng also agreed: "This place also belongs to the south, but both the climate and the environment are more suitable for living than Lingnan. People from the north can adapt to it when they migrate there, so they don't have to worry about acclimatization."

Changsun Wuji followed and said, "The local government offices at all levels are complete, and a large number of immigrants can be properly resettled and quickly resume production. It is indeed more suitable than Lingnan."

Everyone analyzed the feasibility and advantages of emigrating to the area from Ezhou to Tanzhou from various angles, and there was a tendency that not emigrating here would be a bad policy.

Li Shimin also deeply agrees with Yueshan's suggestion. He wants to move out the Central Plains, especially the crowded population in Shandong, Henan, and Hebei. Except for the newly occupied land in the north, he can't find a more suitable place than here.

Moreover, it was rare for the officials to reach a consensus, so he no longer hesitated, and immediately made a decision: "Okay, according to Cuilan's words, the population will be migrated to the area from Ezhou to Tanzhou."

But then another question came up: "This important matter must be managed by a good minister, and if you want to develop this place as soon as possible, you also need the support of a capable minister. Who do you think is the most suitable?"

All the ministers looked solemn and looked at each other, and they all saw sparks in each other's eyes.

The area from Ezhou to Tanzhou is vast and spans several prefectures. If you count the counties that are close to the prefectures, the area is almost equivalent to two lands.

If the imperial court wants to develop this place, it needs not only a senior official who coordinates management, but many officials below will also need to be replaced.No one wants to let go of this opportunity to expand their faction.

There was only Yueshan, who didn't express anything.

First he personally presided over the development of Dizhou, and later Ning Chun from Lingnan joined his faction. It is unlikely that he will be allowed to preside over the development here from the emperor to the officials.

But that doesn't mean he doesn't have to worry about anything. It's just because he's an outsider that his opinion is more important.

Everyone put forward their own candidates, and the competition was fierce.

Li Shimin didn't say a word, he was happy to see his subjects argue.

For example, just now Yue Shan mercilessly scanned the face of a group of people, and he was very happy to see it.

Besides, although these people have selfish intentions, most of the recommendations are people with real materials, and they can be used without affecting the overall situation.

What is the overall situation?His own thoughts are the big picture.

It is impossible for him, the emperor, to not have his own ideas on such a big matter, and he also has his own candidates.Arrange the candidates in your own mind first, and then consider the talents recommended by others.

Changsun Wuji and others are also aware of this point. The talents they recommend can be used as a reference, and the emperor will not employ people exactly according to their ideas.So after a little dispute, everyone jointly recommended more than a dozen people.

Li Shimin didn't express his opinion directly, but looked at Yue Shan and said, "You came up with this policy, is there a suitable candidate?"

Yue Shan hesitated for a long time before saying: "There is really a candidate who is especially suitable to preside over the overall situation."

"Who?"

"Prince."

(End of this chapter)